A man in a black hoodie, an engraved mask on his face, slowly approached the abandoned construction site. There stood two men clad in armor who seemed to be waiting for him.
"I'm sorry I'm late, Chairman." Ken took off his hood.
"You're not, Guardian. In fact, we are still waiting for the last person," Go Gunhee said.
Ken realized what he meant. "I see. Is he strong?"
Go Gunhee simply chuckled. "Very strong, and she is a trustworthy person I have in my contacts."
Ken raised his brow. So he was not a he but a she? Not long after, a sedan slowly entered the construction site, and something blonde caught his eye. A beautiful woman clad in armor stepped out of the car.
"Am I late, Chairman Go?" said the newcomer.
"You are on time, Miss Cha. And Guardian-ssi, I hope you do not have a problem with her helping our ride. Miss Cha Hae-in, this is Guardian. I hope you do not mind sparing your time in your busy schedule."
No way!! His face screamed that inside the mask, but of course he stayed calm.
"Of course not. I am willing to help if it is you, Chairman Go. Hm?" Suddenly Cha Hae-in lowered her handkerchief and gazed at the man intently. As if a dog had found her lost owner, her eyes widened when she smelled something familiar from him. "I am sorry. Have we met before?!" she said, closing the gap between them in an instant.
"What? No. This is my first time."
Ken grimaced in annoyed, but the only one who knew his expression was Clark the cloak.
'Is she a dog or something?'
She was quick-witted when it came to scent.
Cha Hae-in hummed, eyes narrowing as she tilted her head slightly toward his left cheek, trying to peek under his mask. "Fine, but I hate liars."
Not a good impression was what she was trying to show the new hero public named Guardian.
Back at home, she was a good older sister, but now maybe she was locked in for a dungeon, was she not?
---
A group of green, muscular orcs lined up, their weapons ready against something approaching them very fast.
A humanoid-type monster that was also known as an orc, but thankfully not a High Orc, which had a larger horde and stronger magical energy.
Suddenly a head flew off as they stared at their comrade. When panic became useless, they had already discovered their own heads falling to the ground in a circle.
'Damn it. Did no one tell her that I need the monsters to stay alive?'
Ken glanced back.
For health reasons, the Chairman would not involve himself in battle, and Woo Jin-chul would stay not far from him.
So this raid party had a formation where Cha Hae-in was the main striker and Ken stayed behind her.
"Excuse me, but next time do not kill the orcs, will you?"
Cha Hae-in looked back at him. "Sorry, but it is the vanguard's duty to protect the mage and healer. Are you not?" she said, only making Ken more frustrated. "I will ask you one more time. Have we met before?"
Suddenly a shadow cast itself behind her. An orc had already swung its axe halfway, but Cha Hae-in remained calm.
Ken pointed his wand and a barrier slammed down behind her, crushing the orc in an instant.
"Mind you, we are inside a dungeon, Miss Cha."
Cha Hae-in once again stared at him, her face unable to hide her doubt. "I am watching you. For now."
Meanwhile, an old man stroked his chin in amazement. "Youth." He knew these two had something else that felt youthful. "What do you think, Mister Woo?"
"Does my opinion matter?"
"Of course."
He looked at them. They were simply monsters, were they not? "Strong." Just like these monsters, hunters were monsters too.
The raid continued with only Cha Hae-in and Ken as the players in this one-sided slaughter.
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
Ken screamed in joy every time he killed an orc. This was an A-rank dungeon, so unlike the D-rank he cleared before, each kill here could level him up. But Cha Hae-in was in the way.
'Well, no matter. I will simply make my spell faster.'
Five magic circles appeared on top of him. As they fired toward the horde, each time they killed an orc, Zoltraak kept its magic and sought a new prey.
'He bent the spell?'
Cha Hae-in stopped in her tracks as she watched the spell curved before slaughter the orcs.
'He is stronger compared to the best mages in the Hunters Guild.' She acknowledged him, yet she still could not fully trust him, because he was a liar.
After a while, they finally reached the end of the dungeon.
"Miss Cha. This time, please stay back and let me solo the boss."
"Why?"
Because this was solo leveling.
"Because he will treat my body by killing the boss as part of the treatment. Was that correct?"
However, Go Gunhee answered for her instead.
"Yes. That is correct."
Hearing this, Cha Hae-in sighed. "Fine."
They opened the gate made of wood.
Wusssss! Clang!
That was fast. If it were not for his current Sense stat, he would not have been able to react to that axe by casting the barrier so quickly.
"You're fast for a human. Human."
Ken only chuckled as he responded, "You're handsome for an orc."
The orc sitting on the throne grimaced. "Insolent human! I will cut that tongue as the price for your insult. But to think you could communicate. Hmph. Spare the human mage and kill the rest!"
Ken just realized, or rather remembered, that he could now speak any language because of Aqua.
"Guardian-ssi, you can communicate in their language?" Woo Jin-chul asked, as all three of them shared the same bewildered look.
With a horde of stronger orcs on their way, Ken simply prepared his spell as his eyes turned green.
Seeing that he had not completed his spell yet, Cha Hae-in tried to charge toward the horde, but her steps stopped midway. She clutched her nose tightly as an unpleasant, evil smell filled the boss room. It was not coming from the distant boss but from somewhere much closer.
[Fel]
Ken slammed both his hands onto the ground as the spell rushed through the floor, hunting every orc that crossed its path. Green energy pulled each orc toward the ground. They started to scream and kneel as their flesh grew thinner and slowly rotted. The green mana gathered toward a single person while one by one, the orcs collapsed lifeless.
[Ding]
You have killed the boss
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[Ding]
[Fel energy detected entering the body]
[Divine Protection activated]
[Demonic energy purified from contaminated mana]
[All energy successfully cleansed]
[Your mana is exceeding what your body can store]
[+1 mana will be decreased every 1 second]
Ignoring the system, Ken turned around and shot the purified Fel toward Go Gunhee, and in the process he supported it with [Heal]. The body that had been about to crumble from the overwhelming power that was slowly killing him began to adapt. The Fel repaired and strengthened Go Gunhee's body.
"I can feel it now." Go Gunhee smirked and clenched his fist. "The power I no longer have to fear using."
[Ding!]
You have completed the quest.
[Quest: Heal Go Gunhee]
[Reward: 1000 achievement points]
[You have leveled up]
---
On her way home after the raid.
Cha Hae-in gripped the steering wheel as she let her thoughts wander in the middle of the traffic jam.
"I was not wrong. That guy earlier, he smelled good."
She was an S-rank hunter for a reason.
Even though his last magic was so unpleasant that she could have thrown up at any moment, she did not lie when she said he had a comforting scent. And thanks to her sensitive sense of smell toward mana, she would not forget it no matter what. Strange enough, his scent was not something she smelled for the first time.
"Just like him."
The boy next door, named Ken. He had the same scent as this guy.
"But he is taller... and stronger than him... it cannot be him." She squinted her eyes at the road ahead. "Still, there is something wrong with him and Ken."
Cha Hae-in had her doubts, but for now she could not prove anything.